This is a sad moment Mr Governor James Ongwae... I still recall my days in the Kisii County Land Management Board, where we advised that though the idea is feasible, it is not a good investment.
Nyangweta Forest is one of the very few forest resources we have in the whole of Kisii County. Its already been alienated for construction of a Kisii University Campus. What the public does not know is that almost all the forest will be given to the 'private investor' for construction of the sugar factory complex, and a large sugarcane farm.
As identified by the land board, Mr Governor, is that Kisii county has large tracts of public land irregularly acquired by individuals that could be reclaimed to create room for a factory.
There is also a provision that if in the interest of business the 'investor' believes he must have the factory in South Mugirango, he should have through the county government offered to buy land from willing sellers in the county, to create space for them since it will be a private entity.
Going by the deforestation trend in the country, this is a clear trend that the county government is not keen in keeping the forest intact. The said 13 forests that will be given to KFS management need to be mentioned to the public, if indeed they exist and what the county government has done, or is planning to do, to keep them forested and protected.
Forest land is not idle land, its a resource that needs to be protected, by the gun, just as we protect out borders jealously. It might look as a good idea to many people who have seen the '3,000' direct and indirect jobs, but I dont know how feasible in the long run, seeing that Sony Sugar and Transmara sugar factories are struggling to have enough cane to crush.
Will our farmers get value for the sugarcane? IS this not another recipe to plunge people into more poverty? Time will tell, I stand to be vindicated... Bottom line: We ought to leave the forest intact, plant in more trees in all our forests.
This rests with the Kisii County government Nyangewata Forest is 104 Hectares (255 acres). The proposed sugar complex will take away 120 acres from the forest.
Kisii University had already been allocated 50 acres for its Nyangweta campus (that is under construction, after commissioning by former area MP Manson Nyamweya ). Effectively, this will leave it with ONLY 85 acres out of the current 255 acres!
However, the figures fronted by the county are jumbled up on this, stating that about 50 acres (which is almost equivalent to the area registered by the CS on legal notice No. 119) will be left for the forest - which is misleading! the Forest is 104 Ha and not 18 Ha What happens to the remaining 40 acres?
Is someone planning to grab the forest during this alienation process?All said and done, we are technically eliminating the forest. This will be a beginning of its end.
From experience as a planner, Part Development Plans (PDPs) done on public land have led to subsequent excisions for expansion or other facilities, and public land diminishes just like that!
NYANGWETA FOREST FALSEHOODS! Some humans are saying the forest is not a water tower and are accusing Tobiko of trying to protect the Transmara sugar factory by naming the forest as a water tower so that the Kisii factory is not built. For a forest to act as a water tower, it doesn't need legislation recognising it as one, nor does it need the approval of anyone, it just does its job.
The opinion piece was first written by Planner John Omwamba.